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Herbert uttered sounds incoherent but loud, and expressive of a supreme physical revulsion The shocked audience readily understood that he liked neither Cousin Virginia's chiding nor Cousin Florence's pure little poem

"Shame!" said his father

Herbert controlled himself It could be seen that his spirit was broken, when Aunt Fannyruefully: "Oh, if boys could only be girls!"

Herbert just looked at her

"The worst thing," said his father;--"that is, if there's any part of it that's worse than another--the worst thing about it all is this ru?" Aunt Harriet asked "We haven't heard"

"Why, I walked up from doith old man Dill," said Mr Atwater, "and the Dill family are all very much worried It seems that Noble started don after lunch, as usual, and pretty soon he came back to the house and he had a copy of this awful paper that little Florence had given hiave it to him?" Aunt Fanny asked "Who?"

"Little Florence"

"Why, that's curious," Cousin Virginia murmured "IHerbert looked up, and there was a glea

"Go on," Aunt Harriet urged "What did Noble do?"

"Why, his ed his shoes and necktie----"

"I thought so," Aunt Fanny whispered "Crazy!"

"And then," Mr Atwater continued, "he left the house and she supposed he'd gone down to the office; but she was uneasy, and telephoned his father Noble hadn't coo back to the house; and they telephoned around to every place he could go that they know of, and they couldn't find hi about hihed, and paused

"But what," Aunt Harriet cried;--"what do they think's become of him?"

"Old man Dill said they were all pretty anxious," said Mr Atwater "They're afraid Noble has--they're afraid he's disappeared"

Aunt Fanny screamed

Then, in perfect accord, they all turned to look at Herbert, who rose and would have retired upstairs had he been perradually reached themembers of the Atwater fa Ordinarily, this bit of neould have caused them no severe anxiety Noble's person and intellect were so conificant" was the term usually preferred in his own circle--that he was considered to be as nearly negligible as it is charitable to consider a fellow-being True, there was one thing that set him apart; he was found worthy of a superlative when he fell in love with Julia; and of course this distinction caused him to become better known and more talked about than he had been in his earlier youth